The present invention relates to a reproduction apparatus such as a multi-disk-player capable of selecting one of a plurality of information storage media and reproducing the selected medium.
A multi-disk player is known which can selectively one of a plurality of disks such as a CD (compact disk) and MD (minidisk).
In such a prior art, a plurality of disks (e.g. disk D1-D6) are housed in a magazine so that they can be withdrawn individually. With the magazine mounted in a multi-disk player, a desired piece of music on a desired disk can be selectively played by the operation from an operation panel.
The multi-task player, which has an advantage that it can save the labor of exchanging a disk by a user whenever playing of a certain disk is completed, is preferably used for a vehicle.
The multi-task player for a vehicle is installed within a limited space of a vehicle and the space is preferably minimized. For this reason, a player body is installed on a trunk room whereas an operation panel is installed in the vicinity of the dash board of a vehicle.
In the multi-disk player for a vehicle, a disk selecting button for selectively reproducing a housed disk and another button for selecting a certain piece of music within the disk are commonly formed by e.g. a crossing button as shown in FIG. 4 in order to minimize their occupied area on the operation panel.
FIG. 4 shows an operation panel used for an in-vehicle multidisk player. In FIG. 4, the crossing button 100 includes a pair of disk selecting keys 101a and 101b at its upper and lower ends. In this case, whenever a user depresses e.g. the disk selecting key 101a once, one of a plurality of disks housed in the magazine is continuously selected in an arrangement direction. On the other hand, whenever the user depresses the disk selecting key 101b once, one of the plurality of disks housed in the magazine is continuously selected in another arrangement direction.
The crossing button 100 includes a pair of music selecting keys 102a and 102b at its left and right ends. In this case, whenever a user depresses e.g. the music selecting key 102a once, each of a plurality of pieces of music housed in the disk now being selected is successively selected in a sequence reverse to numbers. On the other hand, whenever the user depresses the music selecting key 102b once, each of the plurality of pieces of music housed in the disk now being selected is successively selected in the sequence of the music numbers.
Therefore, if the user wants to listen to a desired piece of music from the desired disk using the crossing button 100, first, he depresses the disk selecting key 101a or 101b to select a desired disk. Thereafter, he depresses the music selecting key 102a or 102b to select the desired piece of music. Thus, the user can select the desired pieces of music included in the desired disk.
Using such a crossing button 100, the user can select the desired disk and desired piece of music on the operation panel having a limited space.
The operation panel includes in addition to the crossing button, a selecting button (FUNCTION) 103 which is a means for selecting the information medium into the medium to be reproduced, a power source switch (SOURCE) 104 which is means for detecting a power ON/OFF of the reproduction apparatus, etc.
The selecting button 103 is a switch for selecting the information medium. Whenever the user depresses the selecting button 103 once, he can sequentially select a plurality of disks housed in the magazine, AM broadcasting, FM broadcasting and cassette tape as an information medium to be reproduced. Incidentally, the crossing button 100 also serves to make frequency adjustment of a radio, station selection, sound quality and volume adjustment of music.
In the in-vehicle multidisk player, playing of each disk is executed by xe2x80x9cautoplayxe2x80x9d. Now, it is assumed that the user turns ON the power switch 104. Then, when the multidisk player has been selected, it starts disk playing from the disk housed in the first tray of the magazine at a prescribed time after a microcomputer which is means for controlling the player detects ON of the power source.
Now it is assumed that the user wants to stop the disk playing. In this case, if the power source switch 104 is turned OFF, the microcomputer detects OFF of the power source to stop the disk playing. Thereafter, the disk is housed into the pertinent tray in the magazine and the player is placed in a stand-by state OFF of the power source.
In such an apparatus, for example, where the user wants to listen the fifth piece of music while the third piece of music of the disk D2 which is housed at the second position of the magazine is played, the user has only to depress the music selecting key 102b on the right side twice.
However, if the user erroneously operates the disk selecting key 101a or 101b at the upper end or lower end, the player will select the disk (e.g. disk D3) different from the disk being played at this time. Therefore, the user must select the original disk D2 (housed at the second position in the magazine) again by an additional operation for the disk selecting key 101a or 101b. In this case, the player plays the disk D2, but plays it from the first piece of music of the pertinent disk.
Therefore, where the user operates either the disk selecting key 101a or 101b for selecting the piece of music, he must select the desired disk D2 using the disk selecting key 101a or 101b again and further select the desired piece of music (e.g. fifth piece of music) using the music selecting key 101a or 102b. Thus, it takes a long time and excessive labor to play the desired piece of music.;
Further, during the music selecting operation, the user may erroneously depress the selecting button 103 or power switch 104 although he intends to depress the disk selecting key 101a or 101b. 
Now it is assumed that the user erroneously depresses the selecting button 103 while the disk D2 is being played. In this case, even if the user selects the multidisk player using the selecting button 103, since the plurality of disks will be generally reproduced again from the first disk (e.g. disk D1), playing cannot be directly restored to the piece of music (third piece of music) of the disk D2 which has been reproduced immediately before the erroneous operation. Therefore, the user must select the disk D2 which has been reproduced immediately before by operating the crossing button 100 again.
Further, where the user has depressed the power switch 104 while the disk D2 is being reproduced, the power switch is turned off so that the reproduction of the disk is ceased at this time. Therefore, even if the user turns on the power using the power switch 104, since the plurality of disks will be generally reproduced again from the first piece of music of the first disk (e.g. disk D1), playing cannot be directly restored to the piece of music (third piece of music) of the disk D2 which has been reproduced immediately before the erroneous operation. Therefore, where the user wants to listen to the piece of music which has been reproduced immediately before the erroneous operation, the user must select the desired piece of music of the disk D2 by operating the crossing button 100 again.
Such an erroneous operation when operating the crossing button may occur when the user himself selects the desired piece of music while looking ahead during driving. If the user makes the above erroneous operation once during the driving, he must do the plural times of operations until he selects the desired piece of music which has been reproduced immediately before the erroneous operation. It takes labor and time for this purpose.
The present invention has been accomplished in order to solve the above problem.
An object of the present invention is to provide a reproduction apparatus which can restore to a reproduction operation of a certain information recording medium easily and quickly even when the reproduction of the pertinent medium of a plurality of recording information media is stopped due to an erroneous operation by a user while it is reproduced.
In order to attain the above object, in accordance with the first aspect of the invention, there is provided
a reproduction apparatus capable of selectively reproducing a prescribed information-recorded medium of a plurality of information-recorded media, comprising:
operating means for receiving a selection command for the prescribed information-recorded medium;
selecting means for selecting the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the selection command;
first reproduction processing means for making reproduction processing of the information-recorded medium thus selected;
storage means for storing reproduction information of the information-recorded medium being reproduced; and
control means for controlling the selecting means and the reproduction processing means, wherein where an operation by the selecting means is executed while the reproduction processing means reproduces the prescribed information-recorded medium, if a selection command for the prescribed information-recorded medium is given again within a prescribed time by the operation, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed information-recorded medium again and instructs the reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means.
In this configuration, for example, even when a user stops to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium owing to the user""s command while the reproduction processing means reproduces the prescribed information-recorded medium, if the operating means receives a selection command for the prescribed information-recorded medium again within a prescribed time on the basis of a user""s command, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed. information-recorded medium again and instructs the reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means. Therefore, the reproduction apparatus can quickly make the reproduction processing of the prescribed information-recorded medium which has been reproduced immediately before the stopping.
Preferably, the reproduction apparatus according to the first aspect further comprises second reproduction processing means for reproducing prescribed information different from the first reproduction processing means and switching means for switching between the first reproduction processing means and the second reproduction processing means, wherein where a switching operation is made by the switching means is executed while the reproduction processing means reproduces the prescribed information-recorded medium, if the first reproduction processing is selected again within a prescribed time by the switching operation, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed information-recorded medium again and instructs the reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means.
In this configuration, for example, even when a user makes an operation of switching the reproduction processing by the first reproduction processing means into that by the second reproduction processing means owing to a user""s command while the first reproduction processing means reproduces a selected one of the information-recorded media, if the switching means makes an operation switching into the first reproduction processing means again within a prescribed time by the switching operation based on a user""s command, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed information-recorded medium again and instructs the reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means. Therefore, the reproduction apparatus can quickly make the reproduction processing of the prescribed information-recorded medium immediately before the stopping.
Preferably, the reproduction apparatus according to the first aspect further comprises:
detecting means for detecting ON/OFF of a power source, wherein where OFF of the power source is detected by the detecting means while the first reproduction processing means reproduces the prescribed information-recorded medium, if ON of the power source is detected again within a prescribed time, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed information-recorded medium again and instructs the first reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means.
In this configuration, for example, even when a user turns off the power source while the first reproduction processing means reproduces a selected one of the information-recorded media, if the power source is turned on again within a prescribed time, the detecting means detects xe2x80x9cONxe2x80x9d of the power source before the prescribed time elapses. In this case, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed information-recorded medium again and instructs the first reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means. Thus, the reproduction apparatus can quickly make the reproduction processing of the prescribed information-recorded medium which has been reproduced immediately before the power source is turned OFF.
In the reproduction apparatus according to the first aspect, preferably, the reproduction information stored in the storage means is address information indicative of an address position of the prescribed information-recorded medium.
In this configuration, for example, even when a user stops to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium owing to the user""s command while the reproduction processing means reproduces the prescribed information-recorded medium, since the address information of the information-recorded medium which has been reproduced immediately before stopping is stored for a prescribed time in the storage means, if the control means issues a command of reproducing the prescribed information-recorded medium within the prescribed time, the control means can control the first reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium from the address position immediately before stopping. Thus, the reproduction apparatus can quickly resume the reproduction processing from the address position immediately before stopping.
In the reproduction apparatus according to the first aspect, preferably, the reproduction information stored in the storage means is address information indicative of a leading address position of a predetermined group of the information-recorded media.
In this configuration, for example, even when a user stops to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium owing to the user""s command while the reproduction processing means reproduces a group of the prescribed information-recorded medium, since the leading address information of the group of the information-recorded medium which has been reproduced immediately before stopping is stored for a prescribed time in the storage means, if the control means issues a command of reproducing the prescribed information-recorded medium within the prescribed time, the control means can control the first reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium from the leading address position of the group immediately before stopping. Thus, the reproduction apparatus can quickly resume the reproduction processing from the leading address position of the group immediately before stopping.
In accordance with the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reproduction apparatus capable of selectively reproducing a prescribed information-recorded medium of a plurality of information-recorded media, comprising:
operating means for receiving a selection command for the prescribed information-recorded medium;
selecting means for selecting the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the selection command;
first reproduction processing means for making reproduction processing of the information-recorded medium thus selected;
storage means for storing reproduction information of the information-recorded medium being reproduced; and
control means for controlling the selecting means and the reproduction processing means, wherein where an operation by the selecting means is executed while the reproduction processing means reproduces the prescribed information-recorded medium, if a selection command for the prescribed information-recorded medium is given again within a prescribed time by the operating means, the control means externally informs whether or not the prescribed information-recorded medium should be reproduced on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means.
In this configuration, for example, even when a user stops to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium owing to the user""s command while the reproduction processing means reproduces the prescribed information-recorded medium, if a selection command for the prescribed information-recorded medium is issued again within a prescribed time through an operation by an operating means, the control means externally informs whether or not the prescribed information-recorded medium should be reproduced on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means. As a result, the user can decide quickly whether or not the reproduction apparatus should be restored to the reproduction processing of the prescribed information-recorded medium before stopping.
Preferably, the reproduction apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention further comprises second reproduction processing means for reproducing prescribed information different from the first reproduction processing means and switching means for switching between the first reproduction processing means and the second reproduction processing means, wherein where a switching operation is made by the switching means is executed while the reproduction processing means reproduces the prescribed information-recorded medium, if the first reproduction processing is selected again within a prescribed time by the switching operation, the control means informs externally to the reproduction apparatus whether or not the prescribed information-recorded medium should be reproduced on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means.
In this configuration, for example, even when a user makes an operation of switching the reproduction processing by the first reproduction processing means into that by the second reproduction processing means owing to a user""s command while the first reproduction processing means reproduces a selected one of the information-recorded media, if the switching means makes an operation switching into the first reproduction processing means again within a prescribed time by the switching operation based on a user""s command, the user can decide quickly whether or not the reproduction apparatus should be restored to the reproduction processing of the prescribed information-recorded medium before stopping.
Preferably, the reproduction apparatus according to the second aspect further comprises:
detecting means for detecting ON/OFF of a power source, wherein where OFF of the power source is detected by the detecting means while the first reproduction processing means reproduces the prescribed information-recorded medium, if ON of the power source is detected again within a prescribed time, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed information-recorded medium again and instructs the first reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means.
In this configuration, for example, even when a user turns off the power source while the first reproduction processing means reproduces a selected one of the information-recorded media, if the power source is turned on again within a prescribed time, the detecting means detects xe2x80x9cONxe2x80x9d of the power source before the prescribed time elapses. In this case, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed information-recorded medium again and informs externally to the reproduction apparatus whether or not the prescribed information-recorded medium should be reproduced on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means. As a result, the user can decide quickly whether or not the reproduction apparatus should be restored to the reproduction processing of the prescribed information-recorded medium immediately before the power source is turned OFF.
The reproduction apparatus according to the second aspect of the invention further comprises:
input means for inputting a selecting command of information informed externally to the reproduction apparatus, wherein where the input means selects to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed information-recorded medium again and instructs the first reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means.
In this configuration, for example, even when a user stops to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium owing to the user""s command while the reproduction processing means reproduces the prescribed information-recorded medium, if the reproduction of the prescribed information-recorded medium is selected by the input means, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed information-recorded medium again and instructs the reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means. Thus, the user can quickly restore the reproduction apparatus to the reproduction processing of the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means.
Preferably, where the input means selects to not reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed information-recorded medium again and instructs the first reproduction processing means to make normal reproduction processing.
In this configuration, for example, even when a user stops to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium owing to the user""s command while the reproduction processing means reproduces the prescribed information-recorded medium, the user can quickly restore the reproduction apparatus to the normal reproduction processing of the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the reproduction information stored in the storage means.
In the reproduction apparatus according to the second aspect, preferably, the reproduction information stored in the storage means is address information indicative of an address position of the prescribed information-recorded medium.
In this configuration, where the prescribed information-recorded medium is selected again within a prescribed time by the selecting means, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed information-recorded medium again and instructs the reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the address information stored in the storage means. As a result, the user can restore quickly the reproduction apparatus to the reproduction processing of the prescribed information-recorded medium based on the address information stored in the storage means.
Preferably, the reproduction information stored in the storage means is address information indicative of a leading address position a predetermined group of the information-recorded media.
In this configuration, where the prescribed information-recorded medium is selected again within a prescribed time by the selecting means, the control means instructs the selecting means to select the prescribed information-recorded medium again and instructs the reproduction processing means to reproduce the prescribed information-recorded medium on the basis of the leading address information stored in the storage means. As a result, the user can restore quickly the reproduction apparatus to the reproduction processing of the prescribed information-recorded medium based on the leading address information stored in the storage means.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.